Violence between Christian farming communities and Muslim Fulani herdsmen in the middle belt areas of Nigeria has increased in recent years, although the land-based rivalry is ongoing.
Many Christians fled the more Muslim Northern states because of lack of opportunities and discrimination and settled in areas such as Plateau state and Benue state. However, these areas now face violence and the increasing targetting of church communities.
Sulieman, a Christian from Nigeria, told Premier that Plateau state had experienced some of the worst violence: “This year alone we counted more than 56 villages that have been attacked” he said, “even last week, there has been at least three attacks…these attacks target these communities; burning houses, killing people and basically displacing people from their homes, from their farmlands and from their sources of income”
When asked why this was happening, he explained that it was a battle over land – as Christians move from the north to avoid discrimination they clash with those in the states they move to.
“The attacks from 2009-2014 have mostly been through Boko Haram in the north east, where several Christians were uprooted from their communities and many of those people ran from those communities to places like Jos and Plateau state to find a place of refuge, but now we struggle with communities being attacked by Muslim…
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